Walcott should move to West Ham, says Nigel Winterburn

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott would fit in well at West Ham, claims former Gunners’ left-back Nigel Winterburn.

Winterburn played for both Arsenal and the Hammers during his career, spending his final three years in professional football in East London. Now he’s recommending that Walcott makes the same career move, in an interview on bwin.

Winterburn believes that Arsenal’s change in formation could lead to West Ham being a better fit for the England international:

“The problem for Theo is that Arsenal switched the system at the end of last season and that system doesn’t suit him, not at Arsenal anyway. West Ham playing with two up front including Carroll with Theo, I can see that working very well.”

To an extent, he does seem to be right in that it’s hard to see where Walcott fits in the 3-4-2-1.

Lacazette, Giroud and Welbeck would likely all be ahead of him up front, then Alexis and Özil are currently occupying both of the positions in the two. When they’re out Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Lucas and the previously mentioned Lacazette and Welbeck could all fit in as wide-forwards.

Walcott’s defensive game certainly improved in the last season, but it’s still not at a level where you could say he was a viable option at wing-back. Arsenal won’t want to lose his goals, but there’s certainly a lot of competition in all the areas he might be able to fit in the team.

Realistically Arsenal are more likely to want to sell someone like Lucas, who is in a similar situation to Theo, but doesn’t have the advantage of homegrown status.

But if he were to be available, West Ham could certainly benefit from bringing him in.